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TMI Blog2025 (1) TMI 1331X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gation conducted may or may not lead to the confirmation of the offenses by the exporter, it would not be conclusive evidence to establish gross negligence or misconduct on the part of the Appellant. It is difficult to understand how the forfeiture of security deposit and imposition of penalty could be upheld when the Tribunal itself comes to the conclusion that there is no evidence to establish that there is any gross negligence or misconduct on the part of the Appellant and neither has the adjudicating authority been able to prove that the Appellant was in the knowledge of the actual port of discharge, which was different from the final destination. Conclusion - The penalties and forfeitures cannot be sustained without clear evidence of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e diligence had been established by the Revenue against the appellant? c) Whether action of imposition of penalty and forfeiture of security deposit can be sustained against the appellant without proving any negligence or lack of due diligence?" 3. The Appeal is admitted on the aforesaid questions of law. With the consent of the parties, we have taken up the Appeal for hearing. 4. The facts of the present case lie in a very narrow compass. The Appellants are engaged in the business of rendering services as Customs Brokers. The Appellants Customs Brokers License was suspended initially on 27th August 2019, and which suspension was subsequently withdrawn on 26th September 2019. Thereafter, an enquiry was initiated vide Show Cause Notice ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Revenue contended to the contrary. According to the Revenue, the negligence on the part of the Appellant was clearly proved and therefore, the order passed by Respondent No. 2 ought not to be interfered with. 7. The Tribunal, after noting the provisions of Regulation 10 (d) of CBLR 2018, gave its findings in paragraph 12 of the impugned order: "12. We find that the enquiry officer found that the custom broker mentioned port Jebel Ali as port of discharge in the shipping bills as informed by the exporter. He also found that there is no iota of evidence that the fact of discharge of the goods at Bandar Abbas (UAE) was known to the custom broker. He relies upon the statement dated 10.03.2017 of Director of exporter that the destination w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is not established in our considered opinion. It can also be seen that in the instant case the timeline prescribed in the Regulations have not been adhered by the enquiry officer and the adjudicating authority notwithstanding the discussion as to whether the timelines prescribed in the said regulation are mandatory or advisory. We however, are not going into the above issue looking into facts and merits of the case." (emphasis supplied) 8. As can be seen from this finding, the Tribunal has clearly come to the conclusion that the only argument of the adjudicating authority (Respondent No. 2) was that the Appellant was aware of the port of discharge and this was based on the contradictory statements of the exporter and the investigation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ngs arising under the Customs Act, the Appellant, has in fact been exonerated and the penalty imposed on it under the Customs Act has been set aside. This decision was rendered by the Tribunal in Appeal No. C/10595 - 10596 - 10697 of 2022 decided on 7th July 2022. The relevant portion of this decision of the Tribunal reads thus: "5.7 In respect of the Appeal filed by M/s. V. Arjoon, CHA, we find that the CHA had filed shipping bills as per the documents provided to him by exporter. Therefore the bona fide act of the Appellant cannot be doubted. The act of filing the export documents for customs clearances shows that the appellant has no mens rea and filed the documents being a bona fide facilitator. Further, in any event of the matter, si ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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